


A Doctor’s Tale

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Smarm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-10-07 01:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10349613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: Spoilers: "The Light", "Small Victories", "FiaD", "Holiday",StargateSummary: Janet’s POV as a certain archaeologist winds up in the infirmary yet again





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

A Doctor's Tale

##  A Doctor's Tale

##### Written by Athene   
Comments? Write to us at [goddess.Athene@ntlworld.com](mailto:goddess.Athene@ntlworld.com)

  * SPOILERS: Holiday, The Light, Forever in a Day, Small Victories, the Movie 
  * SUMMARY: Janet’s POV as a certain archaeologist winds up in the infirmary yet again 
  * PG13 H/C, smarm, Danny Whumping… 



* * *

I sit in my office, ploughing through piles and piles of paperwork, thinking how quiet the place is. It’s almost too quiet – but then SG1 are the only team currently off world, and they’re not due back for at least two days. Two days to clear off this paperwork. I start sorting it into three piles – Daniel Jackson, the rest of SG1 and other. The third pile is the smallest of them all; the first is about the same size as the other two put together. 

Having sorted through the documents, I decide I need coffee.   As I walk to the coffee maker, I stare out of the office door, down the almost empty infirmary. 

Only one bed has anyone in it – Lieutenant Evans. He tripped up in the corridor yesterday and bumped his head, knocking himself out briefly. I kept him in for 24 hours for observation, and his time is nearly up. I’ll release him now, I decide, and get the forms.   

I check him over, and then tell him he’s free to go, but that he must take two days off to recover. I then give him some painkillers and the information sheet that tells him the things he needs to watch out for following any head injury – vomiting, excessive drowsiness, and so on.

“You experience any of these, Lieutenant, you phone here and ask for a car to bring you back here or to the nearest hospital, promptly. Understand?”

“Yes doc…I’ve got a headache though”

“You will have, plus a black eye to boast about to your friends, although you might have to pretend you got it some other way. Tripping over your own feet isn’t terribly impressive, is it?” I smile at him.

He grins in response and starts to hunt out his clothes from the locker by his bed.   I pull the curtains round the bed, and as I do so, I notice the empty bed in the corner. 

Daniel’s bed. Mentally I tick myself off for thinking of it in those terms, but it is the bed that we always put him in when he’s brought in here. Because I think of that bed in terms of it being Daniel’s, I refuse to allow anyone else to use it unless I have no choice. The staff has got used to my idiosyncrasies now, and they avoid using it as well.

As I head back to my office, towards the joys of coffee and paperwork, the klaxon sounds to warn of an incoming traveller. It has to be SG1. And they’re early, which can only mean one thing. The orderly on duty with me appears, the same thought has occurred to him.

We’re already on our way, the gurney with all the equipment piled on it when the call comes, “Medics to the gate room!” 

I look at Joshua, my orderly. It’s time to place our bets.

“I’m taking the colonel” I say.

“Okay. Major Carter” he responds. We used to bet on Daniel, but it’s not a fair bet, not really. As we round the last corner to the gate room, an all too familiar sight greets us – Teal’c is striding towards us, Daniel’s unconscious form in his arms. 

It strikes me that Teal’c always carries Daniel as if he were a child, across his chest, in both arms. Colonel O’Neill tends to use the fireman’s lift, over one shoulder, but then Daniel is nearly as tall as Jack. Teal’c dwarfs them both, and makes me feel positively insignificant.

He carefully puts Daniel onto the gurney, as a parent would put a sleeping child to bed. 

“What happened Teal’c?” I ask, as I quickly assess Daniel’s condition before we start the dash back to the infirmary. 

“He fell, Dr Fraiser. We were travelling along the top of a cliff and the path collapsed under him”

“How far did he fall?”

“About 50 feet, Doctor.” Ouch! I think. There could be nasty breaks here, internal bleeding. He shouldn’t have been brought back; we should have gone to him. We put a collar on him, but it’s probably too late. There’s blood soaking the left leg of his pants, compound fracture probably. At least he’s just unconscious, still breathing. I’m mentally checking through the x-rays I need, ready to issue the instructions as soon as we get into the infirmary. A groan interrupts my thoughts.

“Daniel? Take it easy, we’ll take care of you…”

“’t hurts…” 

“What hurts, Daniel?”

“My back…head…. legs…” We’re in the infirmary now, and we take Daniel straight to his bed. Jack and Sam have arrived, close behind Teal’c, probably delayed by briefing General Hammond as to what had happened.

“Janet…is he…?” I push Sam back and start cutting Daniel’s shirt off, feeling for fractured ribs as I go. Two orderlies have removed his boots and are cutting his pants off. That left thigh is a mess; the femur is sticking through the muscle and skin. “The right ankle is displaced, that’s probably fractured too. He’s got at least two fractured ribs but I don’t think the lung is punctured.” I move my hands down over his pelvis, pushing hard to see if it is intact. It seems to be ok, thank God for that. I palpate his abdomen. Doesn’t feel like there is any internal bleeding. Someone has put in an IV shunt, and put up a drip.

“I want head, c-spine, chest, pelvis and both legs” I shout. The mobile x-ray machine is moved in, and everyone who isn’t required is ushered away. The rest of us don lead aprons. The x-rays are taken, and rushed off for developing. Pethidine – he needs pain relief. 

Daniel is whimpering.

“Daniel. Take it easy. We’ll get you something for the pain.” Someone hands me a syringe. “Pethidine” they mutter. I don’t remember asking for it. I must have done. I tend to work on autopilot when these situations occur. I inject the drug into the IV. “This will make you feel better, Daniel, stop the pain.” He swallows and nods.

“I’m thirsty.”

“We’ll let you have a drink once we know what the x-rays are showing. You’ve got a drip up, that will help.” I adjust the speed of the drip. “Now you just rest. I’ll be back in a minute.”

I push the curtains back, to be greeted by three worried faces. Jack speaks first.

“How is he?”

“As well as can be expected, considering that he fell 50 feet. Colonel – what were you thinking, bringing him back? You might have done more damage. You should have requested assistance. We’d have come out to you.”

“We were an hour from the Stargate. An hour there, an hour back, plus the time it would take you to get ready…. it was too long.”

“He’s been like this for an hour before you got here?”

“Nearer two. It took us ages to get down to him and dig him out.” I could tell by the looks on their faces they felt badly about this. 

“Is anyone else hurt?” They shook their heads. Jack nodded towards the bed. 

“Can I sit with him?”

“Of course, but he’ll be sleepy. The painkillers…” Someone waved x-rays at me. I rushed over to look at them. I was amazed – somehow, he only had four cracked ribs, none displaced, that femur and the ankle, which was quite a mess. Jack had once referred to him as rubber boy – always bounces back. If this evidence was anything to go by, it was true. He would still need surgery to reset and pin his thigh and ankle, but he had got off really, really lightly. 

I asked someone to beep Dr Warner, and then walked back to Daniel’s corner. The bed was surrounded by SG1. They looked so worried, so depressed. Jack was sat holding Daniel’s hand as he lay dozing, Sam and Teal’c stood back from the bed, Sam with her arms wrapped round her chest, unconsciously mimicking one of Daniel’s favourite ‘comfort’ positions. I took a deep breath, and smiled.

“Well, he’s lucky. He’ll need surgery to reset the breaks in his leg and ankle, and those ribs will want strapping, but there’s nothing life threatening.” I moved to the bed and removed the collar. 

“How…how long will he be in here, Janet?” Sam voiced the question that I knew they all wanted to ask.

“Depends how he heals, but it’ll be a while, he’ll have both legs in casts, for a start. Now, we need to prep him for surgery, so…” Sam and Teal’c nodded, and moved as if to leave. Jack was more reluctant. “Colonel…” He looked up at me, confused; “I’ll call you as soon as he’s out of theatre” Sam gently took him by the arm and led him away from the bed.

A couple of hours later, I walk the length of the infirmary, still in my scrubs. Jack has somehow miraculously reappeared by Daniel’s bed, and is dozing in a chair. Daniel is still sleeping off the after-effects of the anaesthetic. His legs are both in casts, and elevated by pulleys. I turn on the light over the bed, check his drip, and take his pulse. Jack stirs and wakes.

“Colonel.”

“How’s he doing?”

“He’ll be fine. Why don’t you go and rest for a while. He probably won’t wake until tomorrow now.”   Jack shook his head. 

“No. I don’t want him to wake up and be alone.” I understand exactly what Jack is saying to me, he’s said it so many times before. Nearly every single time he’s spent a sleepless night by Daniel’s side while he lies unconscious in that bed, for a start. But Jack looks awful, absolutely awful. The stress of watching his friend hurt yet again is taking its toll on him.

“Colonel,” I start to say, and then I change my approach. “Jack, he won’t be alone, because I’m not going anywhere. If, and I stress, _if,_ he wakes up before you get back here in the morning, I’ll call you. But he’s not going to wake up, because he’s had a general anaesthetic, and he’s pumped full of pain-killing drugs that will make him very, very drowsy.” Jack looks up at me. I can tell that he’s tempted, and then he shakes his head.

“No. I’m staying”

“I’ll pull rank on you, Colonel. I can order you out of this infirmary on medical grounds”

“But you won’t” He’s got me there. I know I can’t do that. Jack’s need to be here is probably nearly as great as mine. “Anyway, Doc, you should go home and get some sleep yourself.”

“You know I can’t do that. I have to be here in case…” in case I’ve missed anything I shouldn’t have. The problem is that I am too involved with these people. I care too much about SG1. I don’t just see the body and the injuries, I am emotionally involved. Every time Daniel comes in here, I see a friend in pain, and I shouldn’t. I should just see a cluster of symptoms that need diagnosis and treatment. I know I don’t feel the same way about the other teams, about any of the other base personnel – just SG1. Sam is my best friend and confidante. She and I are kindred spirits, drawn to each other. And since I adopted Cassandra, we’ve all of us got closer, closer than a doctor should be with people who are potentially her patients. I mean, how many people can honestly say that they regularly cut the clothes off someone who they consider to be a very good friend, or that they routinely stick needles into their butt? I realise I’m stood gazing at Daniel’s face. He’s asleep, and like most sleeping people do, he looks about 10 years younger, which makes him look so young, so vulnerable. At least all trace of pain has vanished. I look down as I feel someone touch my arm. It’s Jack. “Doc? You okay?”

“Yes I am. I just find it hard that the same man, someone I consider a friend, comes in here over and over again. That I have to put him back together each time, that I worry about him all the time, whether I can fix him, whether there will be permanent damage…Daniel’s getting to me.” I don’t know why I’m telling Jack this. I shouldn’t be. Maybe it’s because I know that Daniel is getting to him too. “I don’t even let other people have this bed any more” I smile, a little embarrassed to admit this.

“I know exactly what you mean, doc. I can’t let anyone use my guest room any more in case Danny turns up unexpectedly.” Jack smiles. “He does that to people. Makes them like him, even if they don’t want to.” He looks thoughtful. I decide he’s probably thinking back to when they first met, when he thought Daniel was just some four-eyed geek, not anyone that he would eventually call his best friend. “Heck! I’ll bet even Apophis liked him just a little bit!” He looks down at the sleeping figure. “Yep, Danny boy does that to people.”  He looks up at me. “What was the worst time for you? When he came in here and you didn’t think you could help him?” I know exactly when it was, but I’m not sure I should tell Jack, as I’m know that that was the time when everyone knew in their own minds that I could sort it out, that there was no doubt. I find myself telling him before I know it.

“There have been lots, when he was body-swapped with Ma’chello, when he got addicted to that damn light and went into a coma, when Sha’re died, when we thought he’d lost his mind, but the one time that really scared me was when he had appendicitis.”

“Sorry?” Jack doesn’t believe me. “You telling me that all those strange things were nothing in comparison to a burst appendix?”

“That’s just it. It had burst. If you catch it before it bursts, then it’s not too bad – serious - but nothing like once it’s gone. Then you’ve got the potential for a full-blown internal infection that spreads through the whole body. It was the one time that I knew that if he died, it would probably be my fault. I didn’t tell anyone, but he was seriously ill then, just as likely to die as all those other times, maybe more so, and everyone was just so confident that I could make him better” I shrug. “ I worried on my own that time. That makes it so much harder”     

“We were worried too, Doc. Really.”

“You weren’t as worried, not once he’d had the surgery. You went home.” I look down at my hands. “It’s nice that you have that much faith in me, in my abilities, but it puts the pressure on. What about you? When’s he got to you most?”

He smiles.

“That’s easy – when he died following that damned light thing. But it started for me on that first trip through the gate. I was about to die, and he leapt in front of me and took the blast. That’s when I realised he wasn’t just a geek, that he was actually someone very special.” He looks embarrassed. “I think that’s what saved me from myself. That someone I hardly knew, who I wasn’t even being nice to, hell, I was barely polite to him, thought my life was worth more than his own.” He looks down at his friend, a gentle expression on his face, but he looks tired. He’s not going to get much sleep in the chair, even though someone has given him a blanket and a pillow. I stare down the empty ward.

“Go to bed, colonel – get a decent night’s sleep.”

“Nope. I told you, I’m staying.”

“Doctor’s orders – you can have this bed here.” I point to the bed next to Daniel’s. “I’ve got enough spare, and it’s more comfortable than that chair.”

“What about you, Doc?”

“Cassie’s on a sleepover at her friend’s house, so I’ll sleep here – there’s a couch in my office. If you need me, I’m just down there, and Joshua’s doing the night shift now we’ve got Daniel. He needs hourly obs until he’s gone 24 hours post-op.” I check my watch. “I’ll do the first lot now, he’s nearly due anyway.” I pull the curtains between the beds, busy myself checking Daniel’s pulse and blood pressure, and then I wake him to take his temperature. He stares at me, blinking in the light, obviously not focusing.

“How’s the pain, Daniel?”

“Uh…ok.” I nod and stick the thermometer in his mouth. I touch his toes to check the circulation. They were warm. After checking the flow on his drip, and the pressure on his legs at the tops of the casts, I read the thermometer, and note the results and time on the chart, which I replace at the end of the bed. 

“Is there anything you need?”

“No.Er…actually, can I have some water, my mouth’s really dry.” I hand him the glass from by the bed, and call out to the bed next door.

“What about you, Colonel? You need anything?” Daniel looks around for his friend, a worried frown on his face.

“Jack’s here?” I laugh.

“Of course. Until he knows you’re ok he won’t go home. At the moment he’s settling down in the bed next to you.”

“Is he ok?” Daniel is worried now.

“Yes, he’s fine. Letting him have the bed is the only way to get him to have a reasonable night’s sleep. And it’s more comfortable than the chair. Now you settle down and go back to sleep.” I pull back the curtains to reveal Jack, fast asleep on the bed, one boot still on. “See – fine.” I pull Jack’s boot off, retrieve the other from under the bed and place the two of them neatly by the locker, then cover him over with a blanket. “Night Daniel” As I turn the light off Daniel is already asleep. 

I head back down the ward to let Joshua know that I’ve done the first set of obs, and to find my own makeshift bed for the night. I can’t help smiling, thinking about those two men, and their relationship, that they play down, pretend that it’s nothing special, even to themselves.

“Everything alright Janet?” Joshua’s question brings me back.

“Yes. I just can’t help thinking that those two are two sides of the same coin. And they aren’t complete without each other.” Joshua stares at me, confused. “Just look at them - if one is missing or hurt – neither one functions properly until the other is restored. Not that either of them would ever admit it to the other. They’re lucky guys.”

“Lucky?”

“A friendship like that is very rare – a lot of marriages aren’t that close. To have a platonic relationship that hits that level of devotion, well…”

“You okay Doc?” Joshua is looking at me, concerned.

“Just tired. Worried about Daniel, usual stuff. I’ll get my head down and I’ll be fine.” I wander down to my office, and start out trying to sleep, but end up sitting up half the night catching up on paperwork. 

*

The following morning, I wake later than I wanted to. It’s 08:00 before I open my eyes, and the day shift is already on. Damn that Joshua! He’s probably told them not to wake me. I rush down the ward to check on my patient, and find Jack trying to force-feed Daniel with a bowl of oatmeal – unsuccessfully. He’s getting more on the bed and his victim’s chest than in his mouth. I pick up the clipboard, and check the results of last night’s obs. All looks ok.

“Morning boys. How are you feeling today, Daniel?”

“Sore, and I feel much better if Jack would take that spoon and shove it…”

“Ah ah ah ah! “ Jack waves a paternal finger at Daniel. “You wouldn’t eat your nice oatmeal, so I was going to help the nice nurses by feeding it to you” Daniel glowers at Jack in response.

“Can’t I have something nicer to eat, Janet?”

“Fraid not. You need something fairly bland for your first meal after general anaesthesia. You eat that, or some if it, and I’ll see if I can’t organise something better for lunch. Now, can I just check you over? Excuse me Colonel…Go have a shower.” I push Jack out the way, and pull the curtain round the bed. I check Daniel’s toes, nice and warm, and his legs at the top of the casts. The bruising is coming out now, and his chest above the heavy bandaging is a wonderfully lurid range of colours. All looks well. I then check the catheter, and glance up to find Daniel blushing. Covering him back up, I smile. It always amazes me that men get so embarrassed being naked in my presence – I’ve seen it all in my time.

“Everything looks fine, Daniel. Now, on a scale of 0-10, where 0 is nothing and 10 is the worst pain you’ve ever had in your life, where are you today?” 

“Five-ish” He moves in the bed and grimaces.

“Okay. Now tell me the truth.”

“Seven” Wow! Must be bad, Daniel always lies and reduces his pain assessment, to avoid any drugs if he can. 

“Right, I’ll organise some more pain relief.”

“No. I don’t want it”

“Daniel, refusing pain relief is not going to do you any favours. You’re in here for at least another week, until we all get sick of your moaning and someone, probably Colonel O’Neill, volunteers to look after you at home. You are going to be in pain. Refusing pain relief is just going to make your stay here seem even longer.” He looks sheepishly at me, his blue eyes guilt ridden. “Now, shall I get you some pain relief?”

He nods. I turn to go and write up the script.

“Janet.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry for…er….”

“Is that an advanced apology for how awful you are going to be over the next few weeks?”

“I won’t be awful!” Daniel’s eyes are wide in indignation now.

“Yes you will Daniel. For someone who spends more time in here than anyone else, you have got to be one of the world’s worst patients!”

“That’s not fair.”

“ I will retract that statement if, and only if, you do exactly what I tell you, Daniel Jackson. That means no late night reading, not getting Jack or Sam or Teal’c to sneak you in extra coffee or junk food, and refusing to look at any artefacts for anyone. Understand?”

“ But…”

“ Understand, Doctor Jackson?”

“ Yes Doctor.” He gives me one of those sad little boy lost looks, with an evil glint in his eye which tells me for certain that he will flout every single one of those rules and more in my off-duty time. I won’t begrudge him those pleasures he does manage to get – he’s not going to be having much fun until he gets rid of those casts, and if he isn’t having much fun, those of us who have to look after Daniel won’t be having much fun either. I wasn’t joking when I said he’s a lousy patient. Besides, it’s not as if he’s ill, but I do have to try to at least seem to be in charge of my most frequent patient. 

Someone, probably Joshua, has placed a clean t-shirt on the nightstand by the bed so he can at least appear to be decent, even if he is half naked. I help Daniel to sit up a little more, which is not easy given that his legs are both still elevated. I then grab a damp facecloth from a bowl by the nightstand, and try to clean Jack’s attempts at feeding him the oatmeal off his chest. I shake out the t-shirt and help Daniel into it, being rewarded for my trouble, not for the first time, with what seems like his entire linguistic repertoire of expletives, as he discovers just how stiff, bruised and sore he really is. The Abydonian ones sound the most satisfying, must get him to teach me one or two of those. I could leave this kind of care to the nursing staff, but I quite like the ‘softer’ side of medicine, especially when it’s one of my friends. Having got Daniel halfway presentable, I pull the over-bed table further towards him.

“Now, eat your oatmeal. I’ll sort out your pain relief.” Wincing he picks up the spoon and raises to his lips before dropping it in disgust.

“But it’s gone cold!” He has got a point. There is nothing worse than cold oatmeal, particularly when you don’t like warm oatmeal. 

“I’ll get you some more then.”

“You are a tyrant, Janet. Do you like dominating helpless men?” He must be feeling better – he’s got a really wicked look on his face. I just look at him triumphantly.

“Yes. That’s exactly why I became a doctor in the Air Force.” And with that, I turn on my heels and march off triumphantly down the room.

**The End**

  


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> This just happened - honest. Thanks again to the betaing posse - Lorna, Shaure and Denise!

* * *

> January 6, 2002 The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film  
> Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

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